Slocum Spray Sailboat Project

Deck Caulking

2011-06-23T22:00:00.000-04:00

We are using Teak Deck Systems caulk with the recommended 3m fine-line as a seam breaker. Tedious but not too difficult. We recently identified that the deck is made of Austrailian white beech. Commonly used as boat decking material due to the very light color which makes a cool deck when the summer sun is direct. We have about 8 hours work into it so far and have completed approximately 15% of the total.

Engine Survey

2011-06-23T21:24:00.000-04:00

Tauno and Dave Slocum look over the 4 cylinder Peugeot-Vetus engine to begin preparing for start-up. The hour meter reads 6 hours. We aren't sure of the install year but it looks clean and lightly oiled in areas that can be accessed. Minus a few broken hoses it looks like we'll be ready soon to crank it up. (One can hope)

Hull Laminate completed

2011-06-23T20:35:00.001-04:00

The tedious work of stapling and epoxying two diagonal layers of cedar strips , layering epoxy coated 2 oz. shopped strand and 1 layer of 20 oz fiberglass roving spanned a three year period, taking about 40 days of labor. Lots of fairing and filling to get 40+ gallons of epoxy( a few gallons on the barn floor) to look somewhat like a factory hull. Next steps are to sand and prepare for paint and varnish above the waterline.

Spray Model at Peabody Essex Museum

2010-07-03T20:54:00.002-04:00

Take a look at this model in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.

http://www.pem.org/

Bow section glassed

2010-07-03T20:34:00.003-04:00

Here you see the bow section with two layers of glass. We learned a valuable lesson today. After eating lunch we came back to the barn to find a large glass section had peeled off and was in a heap on the floor. It turns out that the air pressure that is holding the glass on the hull can be easily "undone" if the dry overlap at the top is allowed to drop or peel forward. The weight of the fabric continues the peel. We were able to get it back on the hull but it was messy. The accepted boat building method ( that we were compelled to perform) is referred to as the "wet" method. (wet fabric first) I don't care what the books say about it being acceptable; it is not. I'll attempt in the future to show a video of the dry method. We have one more section to glass on the stern. Each section gets more epoxy and more sanding; then on to the starboard side. The glass and fairing has taken about 7 gallons of epoxy for this side alone ( with a few ounces of black pigment.

Glassing the hull

2010-07-03T20:21:00.002-04:00

Here you see Tauno sanding the edge of the first two sections of glass. We are first placing a sction of 2 ounce chopped strand glass on the hull and then place 12.5 ounce roving as the final layer. We are first wetting the boat with resin, then laying the dry fabric on the boat. We start at the top, one person holding and one rolling and pressing the fabric as we move down the section to the keel. At this point, the epoxy is not very tacky and only air pressure is holding the cloth to the vertical/slightly inverted surface. We've discovered that it helps when the person holding uses a board the width of the glass to hold the fabric against the hull as the roller re-wets the fabric as both move toward the keel.

Cold molding side two

2010-07-03T20:11:00.002-04:00

As soon as the weather turned and we started getting temps in the 50's at night ( around June 1) we resumed work on the veneer. To review, we ran out of weather last year to use epoxy so we finished dry-fitting veneer on side one, rolled the boat, and dry fit layer one on side two. After about 6 days of laying veneer with epoxy we completed two layers .

Classic capstan windlass

2010-05-09T20:28:00.002-04:00

I found this windlass on Craig's List. The seller, Ed from South Carolina, just happened to be coming through NYS on his way to his sailboat in Toronto.
I met him in Utica, and we did the deal. This came from a 1940 Alden ketch. Ed told the story of when he took a slip at Trump Plaza Marina in Atlantic City with the Alden. Trump's boat was a few docks away and one evening "the Donald" strolled by the boat and his only comment was " Hey, nice windlass". We think it will be a nice bit of bronze on the bow of the spray.

Ship's Husband Passes

2010-05-09T19:25:00.003-04:00

In the old days the ship's husband maintained the ship while she was in port. My uncle Howard never dreamed of long distance cruising but took great pride in constructing a few of the boat's major components . His dreams ( literally) were filled with ideas of how to accomplish the various tasks to get our boat seaworthy. Over the course of the past few years he re-greased winches, cast the keel, built the rudder, polished bronze, and worked by our side on weekends. In my last conversation with him we were discussing the amazing job he did on the rudder. He passed away on his own terms, being active on various gardening projects till the end. He will be missed by family, friends and fellow boat builders.

Bronze "poured" terminals

2010-03-28T18:35:00.002-04:00

I recently found these old Wilcox and Crittenden terminals on e-bay from a guy in California. They are also called speltor sockets. Wires are placed in the cone shaped terminals. Once inside the cone the wired is frayed or "broomed". Molten zinc is poured in the cone and allowed to harden. A plug forms around the frayed wire. This type of connection fell out of favor because of weight and windage but are still considered one of the strongest connections available. Many supension bridges use this type. More modern connections use poured resin in place of zinc. I'm open to recommendations.

Sailing in the Grenadines

2010-03-22T18:28:00.004-04:00

Tauno and I decided that we had better start getting comfortable in bigger wind, bigger waves and a bigger boat. Barefoot Yacht Charters in St. Vincent provided us with all of the above. Trade winds consistently blow 15-25 knots with 8-12 ft swell. Under the wing of USCG Skipper Chris Rundlett we learned how to handle it without incident. Chris is also a certified American Sailing Association instructor who got us through the first two certification levels. I highly recommend calling Barefoot and booking Chris on your next charter. (left) Sailing mates for the week Charlie and Meg navigate us to Bequia by dinghy. Contact Barefoot-
www.barefootyachts.com Want to move a yacht or get your captain's license--you can also find Chris at
www.zenithmaritime.com

Off to the Wooden Boat show in Mystic

2009-06-23T19:05:00.000-04:00

We're going to the wooden boat show in Mystic this weekend. There are plenty of experts at the show that will answer a long list of questions that we have in the areas of rigging, epoxy/fabric, hardware, diesel, navigation, steering systems, vessel documentation, sails and on and on. We'll meeting Kevin in Charlestown to look at a few more hardware pieces (from his unfortunate misadventure with his ketch). The show also holds small seminars including bronze casting and wood steam bending that we will attend. We'll also pay a visit to our favorite consignment store in Wickford ( Wickford Marine Consignment).

Nice image of the original

2009-06-21T12:22:00.002-04:00

Here is an image of Slocum's Spray leaving Sidney Harbor. Should we paint our hull white? The idea of leaving her natural frightens us due to the amount of effort needed to maintain all of that varnish. We have plenty of time to ponder the idea.

More on the Rudder

2009-06-21T12:10:00.007-04:00

Howard has prepared the rudder stock and internal foil support for welding and assembly. The stock ( rod) is 1.25" 316 stainless and the supports are .25" 316 stainless. All will be embedded in epoxy and sandwiched within the locust foil seen on the left.

Bronze Cleaning

2009-06-21T11:58:00.004-04:00

One of the many projects ( as you have seen in previous posts) has been to collect and prepare old bronze fittings and hardware. We learned that muriatic acid and water ( 1-3) cleans much of the old corrosion from bronze. There are two schools of thought on bronze. Patina vs. bright. We like patina but much of the corrosion isn't pretty. Also, we need to get a good look at all of the old rigging parts so we can identify any stress cracks. In the picture you see chain plates and travelers from the 1930 Alden ketch that went aground in RI. Much more polishing will be necessary but it is high quality bronze and will look great when completed.

Cold Molding the Hull

2009-06-21T11:38:00.004-04:00

Now that the hull is on it's side, finishing the hull will not be difficult. Cold molding is basically like making plywood in the shape of a boat. Thin layers of veneer are coated in epoxy and stapled onto the hull. Veneer layers are placed roughly perpendicular to each other. With three guys working it takes about 4 hours to cover a 6x6 area. We esimate about 40 hours of work for the three man crew per side. We've completed about half of the first layer on the first side. Not hard labor but tedious----and sticky. Much of the art of using epoxy is keeping everything in the work area clean. Tools left sticky on the bench
may be there until you cut them off with a recipricating saw. Another complication of epoxy is that you need 48 hours of temperature above 55 degrees for the curing process. Summer is short in upstate NY and we both have sailboats on Lake Champlain that we enjoy. We may have to consider extending our building season by enclosing the barn.

Around the World- In Swedish

2009-06-07T20:51:00.002-04:00

I found this interesting version of Slocum's book printed in Swedish. Thanks to Dick and Libby of Tarwathie for correcting me. Visit their very interesting crusing blog www.dickandlibby.blogspot.com

Heeling on the "hard"

2009-06-07T20:41:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure what the exact angle of heel is but this would be exciting if we were in the water.

The Spray has landed

2009-06-07T20:33:00.002-04:00

She landed without an issue. It's the one time in your life when "boring" is good.

Close up- Olavi monitors the bend

2009-06-07T20:29:00.003-04:00

A close up shows the rig a little better.
Each station has been positioned under a bulkhead.

The rolling rig

2009-06-07T20:19:00.002-04:00

4 stations, 3- 8000 lb winches, 1 2000 chain falls, lowering 4 4x6 inch beams.

The picture shows the winches between 2x8 upright pairs through bolted at the tops and bottoms. Quarter inch steel brackets hold the stations to the concrete floor. Each station is supported by laterals to the barn and ground. The beams are lowered between the 2x8's. We think the boat weighs no more than 20,000 lbs. Simple logic says that we'll be carrying more as it tips and should not carry more than half of it's total weight.

Easy does it

2009-06-07T20:13:00.002-04:00

Very smooth. No creaking, groaning,

or other sounds a wooden boat makes when it complains. She seams solid. the 4-4x6's at times showed 5-6 inch bends but otherwise the lwering was quite uneventful.

Tipping Point

2009-06-07T20:03:00.002-04:00

It's amazing how far we had to push her over before she fully committed

to the roll. We needed about 5 more degrees before she allowed gravity to do the rest. We had a full crew, one person for each station (4) and two more for the peripheral duties of checking, jacking, and adjusting timbers.

Rolling the Boat!

2009-05-15T08:47:00.003-04:00

We've decided to roll the boat on it's side to have better access to the bottom. Now that its warming up, we'll be able to do the epoxy work on the bottom. We have to epoxy two layers of thin wood veneer under the water line. Epoxy resin requires 2-3 days of curing with temps above 55 degrees. We are rigging 4 stations that will have winches that will lower beams that the boat is resting on. Hard to explain--more pics and video to follow. We're guessing that we're carrying about half of the roughly 10,000 Ibs. Wish us lots of luck. Stay tuned!

More Hardware

2009-05-15T08:28:00.004-04:00

We discovered that an unfortunate wooden boat owner in Charlestown RI lost his 45' Classic 1930 Alden Schooner after it broke free from it's mooring and suffered a fatal landing on the rocks. A trip out to meet the the owner lead to the purchase of many vintage parts that will help with the project. We've discovered that this beautiful bowsprit ( 12" overall length) with many vintage bronze fittings, will fit the boat with a little "encouragement". Thanks to Kevin from Charlestown RI. The sprit will extend from the bow of the spray by approximately 6 feet. Show in the photo, the inner stay has a special fitting that allows the quick release
of the inner stay. Kevin also sold us heavy duty bronze chainplates, travelers, turnbuckles, stanchion bases and 400 ft of stainless steel rigging wire. We are close to having everything we need to rig the boat.

The Rudder

2009-05-15T08:12:00.003-04:00

Uncle Howard has been working on the rudder. Here tauno is dry fitting in place. Sections of foil were cut from locust that had been cut on the farm, rough cut down the road at a saw mill, and dried over the winter. Locust is extremely hard and considered to be one of the most rot resistant of all wood species. The hardware ( rudder post, bearings, stuffing box) were all salvaged from a RI
consignment shop during one of our winter trips.

We're still here!

2009-05-15T08:02:00.002-04:00

Over the winter we learned much about vintage boat rigging and collected many need parts for the project. EbAY helped us by finding this classic ship's wheel originally produced from the famous Rosebank Ironworks in Edinburgh Scotland. (No longer in business) We'll be building a binnacle unless we can find one on one of our travels.

Mission Accomplished

2008-04-20T09:44:00.002-04:00

All trusses were placed by 2:00. Next steps include supporting the trusses in preparation for the steel roofing material.

Truss raising day

2008-04-20T09:33:00.003-04:00

Unfortunatly you can't see them , but the amazing flying Wirkki brothers are in the trusses supporting the first sections. As the day went on, the crew were setting trusses every 7 minutes. Not bad for a crew with a few amateurs. A picture perfect day.

Nothing Beats Bronze

2008-04-20T09:22:00.004-04:00

Cleats, goose-necks, winches, lights, shackles, mast and boom hardware, winch handles.
A few of these items were on display in Howdy's
workshop for many years.

All the winches have been disassembled and re-greased. All in excellent shape.

Famous Howdy Bailey!

2008-04-20T09:12:00.004-04:00

Google his name and you find large yachts for sale that he's built. You also may find a link to the Chesapeake Bay Schooner race. This picture shows Howdy on his classic schooner. He helped out out with a few hardware contributions . Howdy's extensive yacht building knowledge is only surpassed by his hospitality and friendly nature. Thank you Howdy and crew!

The Spray gets a rig!

2008-04-20T08:52:00.003-04:00

Jim and Tauno traveled to Norfolk Virginia to purchase a rig from a 36 ft wooden boat determined to no longer be seaworthy. The famous Howdy Bailey, a yacht builder in Norfolk, had recently completed these douglas fir masts for the disappointed boat owner. We purchased masts, booms, bronze hardware, stainless wire, sails etc. Modifications will be made to accommodate the larger Spray.

20 feet long, 5007 LBS

2008-04-20T08:30:00.002-04:00

Howard has finished casting all sections and has "roughly" lined them up for this photo. He's carefully machined each section so that when snugged together with a winch, they're perfectly aligned by the laser line. Sections weigh 275-580 LBS ea.

Working alone, Howard has set up a unique system of winches, block and tackles, and roller systems to move large blocks around his shop. He's currently devising a system to to lift blocks into position under the keel.

Keel bolt drilling

2008-04-20T08:15:00.002-04:00

Howard is done casting 11 keel sections designed to attach to the bottom of the keel. Here he's drilling bolt holes in each section while also creating a hole pattern that will transfer bolt locations to the keel. The pattern will be nailed to the keel when drilling up through the keel. ( thats the plan and we'll let you know how it goes.)

Spray Shares a pasture

2008-01-12T16:12:00.001-05:00

Tauno's alpaca herd share a pasture with the spray, occasionally approaching us looking for handouts or just being curious.

Pole Barn Building 101

2008-01-10T21:00:00.000-05:00

When we had her moved, we stuffed her full of lumber so we haven't been able to get inside since the move from Sherman CT. We covered her up for the winter and began the pole barn building task. We raised all of the poles and waited for more material to be delivered to the site. The holidays and the abundant snowfall has put us into a holding pattern.

Safely on the slab

2008-01-10T20:08:00.000-05:00

We reassembled her custom cradle and covered her up. Over the next few weeks we were busy going through the Bruce Roberts plans while trying to enjoy the last weeks of our sailing season on Lake Champlain.

Home in Shushon

2008-01-09T02:56:00.000-05:00

Home at last in the alpaca pasture. ( I've referenced alpacas twice now without showing a picture of them-I'll remedy that in the future)

We just made it between two trees at the gate.

Time to blow the bat guano off the deck!

2008-01-09T02:55:00.000-05:00

After a few final words with the local reporter ( in red) the group started to break up, as the Spray sailed away from its berth. Due to the wide beam ( over 8 ft) it required escorts front and rear. I thought it rather fitting for such a fine craft that she be escorted to her new home. ( thats called putting a positive spin on an additional expense)

Last family goodbyes

2008-01-09T02:51:00.000-05:00

Joseph's children say their last goodbyes. Joseph was a master carpenter that had a dream to build this Slocum Spray and sail it around the world with his wife. Like so many other passionate boat builders life got in the way of completing the project. When his wife died a few years ago, so did the dream. Joseph started the project around 1975. As you will see in future posts, his accomplishment in this nearly completed hull is nothing short of amazing.

The beginning of our journey

2008-01-09T02:49:00.000-05:00

When we started this process we knew it would be an adventure. As I bid on this e-bay item back in August, the concept of completing this project excited and terrified me at the same time. Here you see the group of great people that made this deal happen. left to right, Hank , Gina, (Ebay Seller) , Me, my partners Tauno and Uwe, Jim ( property owner). Thanks to everyone.

Service honoring the Spray builder, Joseph Rhodes

2008-01-09T02:48:00.000-05:00

Read by Joseph Rhodes' grandson.

" A Sailor's Blessing"

Through storms and squalls and tumultuous seas

May you be moored in the harbor of God's loving arms

And may your winds be swift and your sails be full

Across the ocean that is life

So when you reach that distant shore

You may look back on your voyage there

And see that you've lived a life of adventure,

That you've lived a life of love,

That you've lived a life that was full of life-

With no regrets.

The extraction

2008-01-09T02:45:00.000-05:00

During a boat move the guy driving the truck is king. He did a great job without incident. Our team was already (left) starting to get ready to put the barn back together. ( I was shmoozing with the reporter )

Easy does it.

2008-01-09T02:30:00.000-05:00

Joseph Rhodes had worked on the boat on and off for thirty years. When we completed the opening in the barn the boat came into open view for the first time. Many local residents who had heard stories about Joe and his amazing boat stopped to chat and take pictures.

There were thousands of bats residing in the barn. The barn owner liked to stand in a rear door opening around sunset while the swarm rushed around him, never making contact. By the time we finished messing around it seemed that all of the bats found other residences.

Lets go back.......

2008-01-09T02:00:00.000-05:00

"So you bought an old boat and you 've got to take the barn down?" It turns out that it wasn't a big deal. The owner of the barn was very easy to work with ( owner of the property was not the same as the boat owner-very long story). We cut two sections of the barn and temporarily removed them. One pole was permanently moved at the barn owners request.

Whats left to do? Plus Specs

2008-01-09T01:00:00.000-05:00

Two veneers of cold molding below water line, masts, spars, running and standing rigging, cockpit, electrical system, plumbing, hardware, lead keel, sails, electronics, seal deck, rudder, helm. Interior is largely completed.

This is a Bruce Roberts design.

LOD 40'

LWL 31' 11"

Beam 14' 4"

Draft 4' 2"

Displacement 35,840 lbs

Ballast 15,000 lbs

Peugot Diesel

Lead keel casting

2008-01-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

Approximately 10,000 lbs of scrap lead came with the deal. Howard is casting the keel in 10, two ft sections to be bolted beneath the wooden keel.

We are estimating that the entire lead keel will weigh about 6000 lbs. Howard has found that he can use wooden molds covered with a thin veneer of plaster. The plaster is covered with aluminum foil that is sprayed with cooking

oil.

The goal

2008-01-07T23:30:00.000-05:00

Here is a nice example of a spray with the same dimensions. We'll be keeping her natural wood finish. Ours will be rigged as a yawl ( Non-sailors--the rear mast will be on the very back of the boat)